Dardanelle Middle School principal Avis Cotton has two coffee mugs on her desk. One displays a full calendar for the year 1990, the year she assumed her current position. The other extols the virtues of patience.

She keeps the mugs within sight to serve as a reminder of her time in the position and the virtue that she sees as an essential for a middle school educator.

Those reminders will only be needed on the job for a few months longer, however. Cotton announced her retirement in February, effective this summer.

Cotton has served as principal at the middle school for 22 years, but began with the district in the 1971-72 school year. When her husband, Len, got out of the Army and finished his graduate work, the couple moved to Len’s hometown.

“I found out Yell County boys love to come home,” Cotton said, laughing.

Cotton said her first taste of Dardanelle came at a football game while she and Len were dating.

“I didn’t know what a Sand Lizard was all about,” Cotton said. “I’ve never seen such pride in a community as there is here. I’m just very happy to be a part of it and hopefully I’ve helped to encourage that pride and school spirit here through the years.”

Dardanelle is the only district Cotton has ever taught or worked in over her 40-year career.

“I never had any desire to move,” she said. “Our home was here, and we knew it was always going to be here. Our kids were educated here. We’re in the best place in the world. Why would you want to move?”

Cotton said the timing was just right for retirement with numerous changes on the horizon for the district.

“We have a lot of transitions about to begin,” Cotton said. “The building program is going to mean the middle school will move to the present elementary school. Sixth grade will once again be part of middle school. ... Also, our curriculum will be changing to the common core. And there’s the new teacher evaluation system, which will require a lot of training for the teachers. I just felt like it was a good time to have leadership in place that could see the staff and students through all of those transitions rather than jumping in, getting part way through and changing. Also, 40 is just a nice round number.”

Cotton said the reminder for patience is needed more often than her reminder of her years of service, dealing with ever-changing middle schoolers.

“Middle school kids can act like an adult one day — or one minute — and act like a kindergartner the next,” she said. “You want to say, ‘Why?’ but I try not to ever ask why, because they really don’t know. You just have to work through each situation and help each student try and reach their potential and feel secure and have a good day every day. But there are a lot of moods that go on around here. I’ve been blessed with a pretty good measure of patience and the ability to stay calm and just let them work through their emotions sometimes — within boundaries, of course.”

Cotton said witnessing her students change is one of the most rewarding aspects of her job.

“When you work in middle level education, you talk about the changes — social, emotional, physical, intellectual. It’s amazing. Physically, even from the first of a year to the end of a year, you can see how much students actually grow physically, but you want to tie in those other kinds of changes as well.”

She said constantly being around middle schoolers is also just enjoyable, and she sometimes lets her own inner-middle schooler out in the hallways.

“Even though I’m 63 years old, spending your time with seventh and eighth graders keeps you young,” Cotton said. “There’s always something fun going on. We work. We have a very rigorous school, but just day in and day out, I’ll miss the interaction with the students and the staff. I’ve always said the most successful middle level teachers are those who continue to think like a middle schooler. I’ve been known to think and act like a seventh grader. It’s not unusual for me to be going down the hall between classes singing the fight song. Really what I’m doing is reminding students it’s time to move along, but we can do it in a fun way.”

During her 40 years of service with the district, Cotton has seen a countless number of students go through to graduation. She said she particularly enjoys seeing former students, many of whom are sending their own children and in some cases, grandchildren to middle school.

“It’s been one of the greatest rewards to see these former students in adulthood and being good citizens,” Cotton said. “And as their children have come through, I have really enjoyed reconnecting with the parents who were former students. I have had some third generation kids. Not many. I think it’s been helpful to have that basis of trust already established. Every once in a while, I’ll have a parent come in and the secretary will ask if they need to see Mrs. Cotton. They’ll say, ‘Oh no! I was in her office enough when I was here.’”

Cotton served as high school home economics teacher for a number of years, and said in retirement she hopes to return to those roots to do activities and projects she has not had time to while working. She also intends to spend plenty of time with her family.

“My husband retired three years ago,” she said. “I’m looking forward to just having the opportunity to spend time at home with him or visit my mom, who still lives in Lonoke County. I’d like to spend more time with her. My daughter (Sarah Patterson) just got married. My son (Tom) is running for Congress, and hopefully his campaign will be going all the way to November. Campaigning is what I plan to be doing until November. We have a cattle farm, so there’s always something to do. Going back to my home economics background, I would like to do some things at my house that I have not had the opportunity to do. There’s organizations that meet during the day that I haven’t been able to go to. But mainly, I’m just not going to run on a bell schedule anymore.”

In the meantime, Cotton said little will change with the home-stretch routine she has developed since 1990.

“My plans are to continue to work through June and do what I would normally do, which will include getting our spring testing accomplished, hopefully very successfully — begin scheduling for the next school year, planning professional development, making sure that teacher evaluations are wound up and wind up the year I would normally wind up,” she said. “I’ll also take on a mentor role with my replacement to make sure the transition is smooth.”

Cotton said she expects to remain highly involved in the school community as it prepares for the upcoming building and curriculum changes.

“I live right down the road,” she said. “I can’t go anywhere without passing school. My husband and I are very active in the community and we’ll feel like we’re part of it. We will definitely continue to be strong supporters of the school system. Our two children were educated here. My husband graduated from school here. He is a very, very proud Sand Lizard. I’ve been blessed to have an opportunity to share that all these years.”

Cotton said she wasn’t sure what she would do with her coffee mugs once she’s packed up her office belongings during the summer, but she is sure the reminder for the enjoyment of her 40 years won’t be needed.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have this opportunity to work where I live and I’ve had great jobs. I worked hard and I tried to be the kind of teacher I’d want my own kids to have. ... I’ve been given some great opportunities for professional growth. 40 years ago, I never would have seen myself as a principal — particularly at the secondary level. Along the way, times changed. I had some mentors who helped me understand that, ‘Yeah. I could do that.’”